Flares have traditionally been utilized for burning and exhausting combustible gases. Commonly, flares are mounted on flare stacks and located at production, refining, and processing plants for disposing of flammable waste gases or other flammable gas streams, which are diverted for any reason, including but not limited to venting, shut-downs, upsets, and/or emergencies. Primarily, flare stacks are used for venting unwanted waste gas streams from a facility.
In order to produce a flame without producing smoke, many flare burners include a tulip shaped Coanda tip. Coanda tips have been used in flares with high flow rates and pressures to cause the adherence of the waste gas to the surface. The negative pressure and viscous forces caused by the Coanda effect cause the fluid to be drawn against the surface in a relatively thin film, which allows proximate fluid (e.g. ambient air) to be mixed efficiently with the fluid stream. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,337,197 describes that to achieve a Coanda effect, the surface of the Coanda surface should be substantially smooth.
While the Coanda tipped flare burners are effective at minimizing the production of smoke while combusting gas, some Coanda tipped flare burners produce a long flame. The long flames can be problematic as they require more space to separate from other equipment to avoid damaging same. Additionally, some Coanda tipped flare burners produce a high amount of noise from the exiting gases and combustion of same. The high amount of noise is oftentimes undesirable.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a burner that can combust the gases in a smokeless manner without excess noise levels and with shorter flame lengths.